Bought the Lenovo W530

Hey Guys,

I just bought the Lenovo W530 in this spec for 1929.45$.

Processor - Intel Core i7-3920XM Processor (2.90GHz, 8MB L3, 1600MHz)
Operating system - Genuine Windows 7 Professional (64 bit)
Windows XP Mode - Windows 7 XP Mode - English
Display Type - 15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) LED Backlit AntiGlare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
System graphics - NVIDIA Quadro K2000M Graphics with 2GB DDR3 Memory
Total Memory - 4 GB PC3-12800 DDR3 (1 DIMM)
Keyboard - Keyboard Backlit - US English
Pointing device - UltraNav with Fingerprint Reader
Camera - 720p HD Camera with Microphone
Hard Drive - 320GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Optical device - DVD Recordable
System expansion slots - Express Card Slot & 4-in-1 Card Reader
Battery - 6 Cell Li-Ion TWL 70+
Power cord - 170W Slim AC Adapter - US (2pin)
Bluetooth - Bluetooth 4.0 with Antenna
Integrated WiFi wireless LAN adapters - Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN
Integrated mobile broadband - Mobile Broadband upgradable
Warranty - ThinkPlus Warranty Upgrade from 1 year Customer Carry-in Repair to 3 years Priority Support with Accidental Damage Protection (W series only)

What do you think about it? Was it a good deal?

I'll later on upgrade the RAM to 32GB Corsair Vengeance, unless you guys have something better to recommend. Also what's a really good SSD for the W530. Insights please, thank you.

Also, I'm sorry if this is in the wrong section.

Thanks a lot guys!

 

If you're happy with the price and the machine, why do you care what I or someone else thinks?

I might suggest getting the mSATA SSD unless you plan to use WWAN. Doing that would allow you to keep the hard drive in the main bay for storage where speed is not as critical. Congrats on the purchase.

 

Thank you! I was thinking about getting the external bay and doing that because they don't give you that option on lenovo's website. & I just wanted some insights of other people ! IMO I think it was a great deal.

 

If you go with the mSATA + HDD it would allow you to keep the optical drive or if you need a lot of space, you could do the mSATA + 2 HDDs. That would give you up to 2TB of storage assuming you went with 1TB drives.

 

Sorry if this is a noob question but how will it compare with a SSD in speed wise?

 

It's a very good deal, especially with the XM processor. If you find that the 6-cell battery doesn't give you as much battery life as you'd like, you can always either upgrade to the 9-cell or add the slice battery, both of which have the same capacity and cost the same.

Regarding SSDs, I purchased the Samsung 830 series and am very happy with it. Personally, I'd only buy an SSD from Intel or Samsung due to reliability concerns from other manufacturers and the Samsung was much less expensive than the Intel 520 series at similar capacities.

 

Thanks for the respond! I see you got a Thinkpad W530 too, what do you think about it so far?

I'm also just considering the Samsung or an Intel.

 

Congrats on the purchase, Zamizzle! I'm sure you're going to love the lappy. I received my W530 before the weekend and after having cleaned up some of the preinstalled software crap and actually having some time to use the computer, I have to say I am VERY happy with it.

The keyboard feels really good, and this is coming from a long time Thinkpad user going years back. Maybe its because I have bigger hands but I actually find myself typing faster/more accurately on the chiclet boards versus the old traditional style keyboard.

FHD screen is as to be expected and very nice. I've already upgraded to 16GB Crucial 1.35v memory and ran both Memtest86 4.20 and the newer 5.00 beta and showed no issues with the Crucial modules. Also, my HDD is the 7200rpm 500GB Hitachi and it IS the 7mm version.

Opted for the 6-cell battery as well and it seems to have lasted app~ 3.5-4hrs using Word, Chrome, and iTunes. This is using the i7-3610QM.

 

mSATA is a format, much like 2.5" SATA is. The actual SSD can perform equally. For example, the Crucial M4 comes in both formats with identical speeds.

I wouldn't consider Intel anymore as they stopped using their own controller. Personally, I would pick Samsung if all things are equal. If cheaper, I'd consider the Crucial M4 (Marvell controller). For mSATA, MyDigitalSSD is also good for the price with their Phison controller.

 

Intel still has a 5 year warranty, Samsung and Crucial do not on their SSD's.

 

The real benefit of getting a SSD is the seek times. They won't change from one drive to the next. My OCZ drives, which are often derided around here, seem just as fast as the Intel SSDs I have. The throughput, how much drive can pass through the controller in a given moment in time, which is often cited as a benchmark, isn't really relevant because typical computer usage like Office and Internet doesn't put much of a load on the controller. The reliability of the drive may be important depending on how critical your data security is. I believe Intel has the lowest failure rates, but they're low for all drives. Personally I'd buy on price. A mSATA SSD is probably a little more expensive, but like I said, the benefit of getting one is you can keep your hard drive in the main bay for more storage without losing the use of the optical drive. Putting in a second drive in place of the optical drive is another option via the modular caddy.

 

My unit is unfortunately being repaired at the moment after the Intel graphics failed during battery life testing and haven't worked since.

However, aside from that, I'm rather happy with it. The screen is great, audio is pretty good with the Dolby software (although it can't handle heavy bass), it gets PCMark 7 scores similar to the Retina Macbook Pro, lasts a while on a charge, has a comfortable keyboard with a very convenient backlight, boots in under 30 seconds with an SSD, doesn't get too hot or loud even under extreme workload, is nicely portable for a 15" notebook, and plays Starcraft 2 nicely at maximum settings. It's also easy to upgrade and service thus far has been acceptable.

 

You mean that the iGPU on the CPU failed? That's a VERY RARE sight...

 

Is that with the K1000 or K2000?

 

Yes, that is exactly what I mean, and I was surprised as well. However, I eliminated the other variables and that's the only thing left. Nvidia graphics work fine, but not Intel. At any rate, that's why it's being fixed.

K2000

 

I would say the XM CPU's are overpriced.

I would definitely get an mSata SSD. That way you can keep your main HDD. Plus it can't get ripped out of your machine as easily.

As for SSD warranty: 3 years vs 5; what do you think a $200 SSD is worth in 3 years? ...

 

Isn't the mSATA slot in the W530 only SATA II? So it would run at half the speed an SSd would in the main bay or Ultrabay?

 

The Intel QM77 chipset supports 2 SATA 6Gbit/s ports and two SATA 3Gbit/s ports. The W530 mobo, which uses QM77, assigns the two faster ports to the primary bay and the UltraBay.

So, yes, the mSATA in the PCie slot operates at 3Gbit/s speed.

 

Alright. Couldn't tell what sgogeta4 meant when he said this...

So they wouldn't be identical speeds. The mSATA would be closer to an HDD speed-wise.

 

No.

De Crucial M4 mSata is also SATA III. But if you plug it in a SATA II slot the connection is SATA II. That isn't because of the M4, but because of the W530

But get real: access time doesn't change between connecting it with SATA II or III. Throughput in best case scenarios (benchmarks) will drop to below 300 MB/s. In all other cases it's below 300 anyway.

 

What are the advantages of installing the Dolby software? Do you get better sound quality or does it just add extra features like equalizer etc.?

 

I second this question. From what I gather, it improves the audio quality from the speakers using dolby audio profiles made for specific models. Can someone confirm?

 

It raises the general volume level and has different presets to tune for different types of audio. You can also adjust equalizer settings as per your preference. Basically, it's a much more full-featured audio control system that makes the system louder and generally sound better.

 

Can you please describe with 170W slim AC adapter? The Adapter for the W520 is 1.7lbs and I am wondering if the new one is smaller. Please post the part number of the power adapter that is included with the W530 as well.

Rob

 

Hello there,

The below configuration is one of the top so far todate in terms of perfomrance. you don't have a good deal only, you have a Fantastic deal, this beauty is going to work wonders for you for a long time

Congratulations

 

-edit

@dGeorges

Just noticed the original post is more than 6 months old, why are we commenting on this now... I somehow think the OP has moved on